Baha’i Perspectives

nadim April 9th, 2008

Churnalism refers to “the practice of regurgitating material, rapidly and under pressure, from outside sources without checking“.

This phrase, coined by National Union of Journalists member Nick Davies, is a reaction to the changing face of journalism. Journalists, according to him, have gone from becoming active gatherers of information to passive distributors of news from second hand sources. This is all in an industry that is struggling to come to grips with the sudden 24-hour demand for information brought about by the Internet boom.

Where once journalists were seen travelling out and about in the search for facts, a large majority are now, literally, chained to their desks waiting for the next major scoop; eager to be the first to report on the topic and thus draw traffic to their news sites.

Because of this new trend, it has become increasingly common for public relations sources with a particular economic, social or political bent to have a major influence on the content of information that is disseminated.

It all starts with a story by an “unnamed source”, or perhaps even a factual story, the contents of which are altered by acts of omission or commission. Once the press release is disseminated to the news media — and there are very effective mechanisms in place for doing this — the rapidity with which the same article appears on different news sites is astonishing. The only difference between articles is the (typically sensationalist) headline.

For a demonstration, try this:

• Go to a news aggregator such as www.newsnow.co.uk.
• Type in a current news topic which interests you. I have been following the election situation in Zimbabwe, so I typed in ‘Zimbabwe’.
• Compare the stories as they appear — and spot the repetitive trend.

I listened to a debate recently on the BBC World Service between an advocate for journalistic standards and a Public Relations representative. Whilst the advocate rightly spoke about the need for discovery of facts before releasing articles, the Public Relations representative argued that we should accept the reality that there will always be biases, and that it doesn’t really matter anyway, because people are smart enough to be able to filter out truth from falsities.

I disagree.

In one of His Tablets, Baha’u'llah addresses these words to the news-writers of the world:

The pages of swiftly-appearing newspapers are indeed the mirror of the world. They reflect the deeds and the pursuits of divers peoples and kindreds. They both reflect them and make them known. They are a mirror endowed with hearing, sight and speech. This is an amazing and potent phenomenon. However, it behoveth the writers thereof to be purged from the promptings of evil passions and desires and to be attired with the raiment of justice and equity. They should enquire into situations as much as possible and ascertain the facts, then set them down in writing… Fair speech and truthfulness, by reason of their lofty rank and position, are regarded as a sun shining above the horizon of knowledge.

Journalists may not be fully aware of the impact they have on people’s perceptions of a situation, perceptions which are magnified when the same story is “corroborated” on hundreds of sites. I have witnessed how overly negative perceptions have affected entire national industries, which in turn have affected entire national economies, with the net effect being the eventual devastation of people’s livelihoods.

So the question is, can individuals who merely read the news be held accountable when faced with an overwhelming body of information that supports a single view of a situation?

Ultimate accountability clearly rests on the shoulders of journalists, news executives, reporters, bloggers and anyone else whose job it is to deliver factual information the public.

Tags: journalism, mass media, public relations

• Baha'i Concepts , News & Current Affairs , Society
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